The New York Metropolis Music Festival, which fired up last night and runs through Sunday, is hosting more than 170 bands in 20 Brooklyn nightspots, connecting such neighborhoods as DUMBO, Red Hook, Park Slope, Fort Greene and Williamsburg.

“Brooklyn now has its own identity,” says John Wyszniewski, owner of Galapagos in Williamsburg. “Before, we were always seen as an add-on to Manhattan.”

Who would have imagined this five years ago?

“The most notable clubs that made this festival possible only opened last year,” says Andy Wang, publisher of New York Metropolis and festival producer, referring to clubs such a Northsix, Luxx, Warsaw and Red Hook Blue.

“A lot of these bands are just ecstatic. They can play somewhere five blocks from their house.”

New Yorkers might also be looking for a gritty alternative to once-trendy Village locales – and are venturing beyond Williamsburg to up-and-coming neighborhoods like Red Hook.

“People are looking for something new with the old Greenwich Village kind of feeling,” says Jim Faith, owner of Red Hook Blue, which opened last fall.

The festival was assembled by New York Metropolis, a new alternative paper in Brooklyn that has been published in fits and starts since its launch last summer. “Logistically, we’re doing some crazy things, but South by Southwest had to start somewhere,” Wang says, referring to the Austin, Texas, music festival.

A four-day pass costs $45, and several of the clubs will offer free shows, too.